From Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi: The hill state of Meghalaya, which has recorded very high growth of population, has also witnessed the maximum rise in prices of essential items when compared to not only its Northeastern nighbours but also rest of the country, official data show.
Moreover, the same is worse in rural areas as compared to urban centres which has affected the poor badly, the Consumer Price Index released by the Ministry of Labour says.
As per the statistics, consumers in Meghalaya were the worst-affected by soaring prices of consumer goods in the 2011-12 financial year.
The prices shot up by a whooping 17.2 per cent in Meghalaya, whereas rural and urban consumers across India saw prices inflate by 10.4 per cent on an average, as per the Consumer Price Index data.
Rural consumers in Meghalaya saw a 20 per cent rise in the price of the commodities they consume, the official data showed.
But those in urban areas experienced only a 7.9 per cent jump in the cost of foodstuff, fuel, household articles and services.
The sharp rise in prices in Meghalaya vis-à-vis other parts of the country appears to have been on account of frequent road blockades and agitations that have prevented supply of essential items.
But in contrast, Manipur witnessed just a 6.7 per cent increase in prices of commodities during the same period.
Other Northeastern states like Tripura (6.6 per cent), Nagaland (8.2 per cent), Sikkim (7 per cent) and Assam (6.7 per cent) witnessed moderate rise in prices between April 2011 and March 2012.
Two other special category states – Jammu and Kashmir (11 per cent) and Uttarakhand (11.6 per cent) – also witnessed high rise in prices.
Tamil Nadu was the worst-affected after Meghalaya, with prices rising by 12.7 per cent during the one-year period. Rajasthan (12.5 per cent), Gujarat (11.7 per cent) and Delhi (11.7 per cent) were among the other states that witnessed a rise in prices higher than the all-India average.
On the other hand, Haryana (8.3 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (10.1 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (10.2 per cent), West Bengal (10.1 per cent), Bihar (10 per cent), Maharashtra (9.7 per cent) and Punjab (9.2 per cent) saw a lower rate of price rise than the rest of the country, the data added.